Abstract #1948

Reichenbach J, Materka A, Szczypinski P, Deistung A, Kocinski M

We introduce a method for extraction of cerebral veins using susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) data with a multi-scale vessel-enhancement algorithm. This line-enhancement algorithm was applied in 2D projection and 3D SWI data. The algorithm emphasizes veins and the boundary of the brain. Subsequent masking, thresholding and skeletonization removed the boundary, suppressed noise and improved the visibility of vessel connections. It was possible to extract venous vessels out of SWI data down to a diameter of 100 m, which can be used for high detailed vessel tracking and for the determination of brain regions with malformed venous vessel architecture.